ROYAL WATER-LILY. 45 



He found it necessary to procure a canoe. " In this 

 tottering little bark, we rowed amongst magnificent 

 leaves and flowers, crushing unavoidably some, and 

 selecting only such as pleased me. The leaves being 

 so enormous, I could find room in the canoe for but 

 two one before me, and the other behind; owing to 

 their being very fragile, even in the green state, care 

 was necessary to transport them; and thus we had 

 to make several trips in the canoe before I obtained 

 the number required. Having loaded myself with 

 leaves, flowers, and ripe seed-vessels, I next mused 

 how they were to be conveyed in safety, and deter- 

 mined at length upon suspending them on long poles 

 with small cord, tied to the stalks of the leaves and 

 flowers. Two Indians, each taking on his shoulder 

 an end of the pole, carried them into the town the 

 poor creatures wondering all the while what could 

 induce me to be at so much trouble to get at flowers, 

 and for what purpose I destined them, now they 

 were in my possession. . . . From each plant, 

 there are seldom more than four or five leaves on the 

 surface ; but even these, in parts of the lake where 

 the plants were numerous, almost covered the sur- 

 face of the water, one leaf touching the other. I 

 observed a beautiful aquatic bird, (Parra sp.) walk 

 with much ease from leaf to leaf, and many of the 

 Musdcapidce find food and a resting-place on them. 

 . . . The vegetation surrounding the locality of 

 the Victoria was not of that splendid character that 



D 



